At Congress, Collegiate Working Group hopes to chart positive path

In contrast to last spring’s contentious atmosphere surrounding the relations between collegiate racing and U.S. Ski & Snowboard, this year’s Collegiate Working Group meetings took a different tone, best described as cooperative.

With the breakout success of former college athletes like Paula Moltzan and Erik Arvidsson in the U.S., and the continued rise of many Canadian and European World Cup college athletes, the conversation has noticeably shifted. It no longer hinges on if the collegiate path is viable for development, but instead is based on how the entire ski racing community can work together to foster and support it.

That task rests on building and executing on the ideas that have come forth in this spirit of collaboration, many of which were put forth by Alpine Development Director Chip Knight earlier this spring.  

The nuts and bolts

Dartmouth coach Peter Dodge, chair of the collegiate working group for the past 8 years, led the meeting for the last time. Dodge and Vice Chair Ron Bonneau are both stepping down from their roles due to expiring term limits. Dodge set the course for his successor, expected to be JJ Johnson of Utah, by restructuring the committee in a way that incorporates, among other things, greater athlete representation and a balance of representatives from EISA, RMISA and USCSA.

Next up, was clarification of age eligibility wording for FIS UNI athletes, that is inconsistent on the FIS website in various references. Understanding the exact age rules is especially important considering the upcoming 2021 World University Games in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The Games, staged every two years, were pushed from last January to December of this year. They will take place just more than a year before the U.S. hosts the event at Lake Placid in 2023. Student-athletes must be U-26 and at least 17 years old to qualify as FIS university students. For this season, that includes athletes from YOB 1996-2003. U.S. participation at the 2021 Games will be coordinated through Knight’s office at USSS, and include nine men and nine women who will be chosen from the July 1 FIS list.

Reports from the field

EISA, RMISA, USCSA and NCAA reports confirmed that COVID had a massive effect, that was felt differently for all. Whereas RMISA had a near-normal year with all five teams competing in three competition blocks, EISA had a vastly different season based on state and school quarantine and travel restrictions. Only five of the 13 teams participated in three (versus the usual six) non-traditional carnivals.

Despite that, UNH was able to host a successful NCAA championship event with excellent conditions. Dodge, who is also current chair of the NCAA skiing committee, noted that although last year’s effort by the NCAA to reduce the size of the NCAA championships has been tabled for the moment, it remains a threat. Strong high-level support to NCAA from USSS can help preserve skiing’s championship field size.

USCSA membership, which typically includes a whopping 4,900 athletes across many snow-sport disciplines, declined last year. USCSA was unable to host a national championships, but especially in anticipation of fielding freeski and snowboard teams to the World University Games, hopes to find a way for those sports to be represented with the collegiate committee.

“There is not same level of engagement across other non-alpine disciplines,” says USCSA representative Jay Moyer, who proposed a multi-sport collegiate working group to create synergies in messaging about all college snow-sport opportunities, boost participation, and get some consistency in the team naming process.

Working on working together

Two key pieces of USSS and college collaboration are U.S. Ski Team criteria — which now provide an objective path to the national team through NCAA and NorAm results — and USSS support in sanctioning off-season training projects for college athletes.

Including an NCAA individual title in criteria for B Team nomination and NCAA markers for D Team nomination is seen as a win by both USSS and the college community.

“It validates that a lot of our talent can [emerge] through the college ranks,” says Dodge. “Having a specific carrot out there has always been a real goal.”

Still, college coaches question why there is no NCAA path to the C Team, which Dodge describes, as “the sweet spot” on a college racer’s development path.

Knight characterized the addition of an NCAA individual title in objective criteria as a huge win: “It’s an exciting era we’re in,” says Knight. He explains that the collegiate track has been highly effective at jumping over the C Team. “In part, it is a recognition that athletes who are successful on the collegiate track are tracking at the NorAm level.”

Off-season training projects

The other critical piece for collaboration are off-season training projects that allow top collegiate athletes to work with their coaches through USSS-sanctioned projects. These continue to be more vision than reality, for a variety of factors. Even with the U.S. Ski Team and college coaches aligned in purpose, colleges have varied missions, schedules, capabilities and conference restrictions. Add in anticipated COVID restrictions (now relaxed), challenging snow conditions (Mammoth), limited space (Mount Hood), and staffing (coordinating college coaches), and it becomes a complex puzzle that has left this year’s projects as yet unconfirmed.

Still, there is a proposed June project in Mount Hood and a fall indoor training camp in Europe. “We may not be able to get this off the ground, but will continue to try,” says Knight.

Moving up and moving forward

After approving the working group proposals and suggesting a USCSA multi-sport task force to work through the committee, the Alpine Development Committee addressed new business, namely a proposal by Aldo Radamus to remove the age exception now in place for NCAA skiing and hockey athletes.

The current rules allow skiers to start their four-year NCAA eligibility clocks as late as age 22, while in other sports the clock starts a year after high school graduation. Radamus contends this would make colleges a more valid part of the development pipeline and make college racing more accessible to U.S. athletes without explicitly restricting foreign athletes.

Former DU coach Tyler Shepard notes that this has been a constant discussion, complicated by the different rules and philosophies within the three levels of NCAA skiing.

“Over last 20 years, without these foreigners coming in, our NorAms might not have had the success they’ve had … and that trickles down through the entire FIS system,” Shepard said.

This counterpoint is clear in the analysis (included in the committee report) of this season’s race penalties. In the west, with mostly foreign college athletes, the FIS UNI races had several minimum (23) penalties. In the east, with far fewer foreign athletes, there were no minimum penalties, with most races in a vastly higher (mid-30s/40s) range. The positive effect of foreign racers on the ecosystem is huge, but so too is the diminished opportunity for U.S. athletes.

“Aligning with other sports makes sense,” says Dodge. “It makes the student body more coherent and gets rid of multiple gap years.”

Dodge will submit a reinvigorated proposal to the NCAA committee. Pushing it through, however, will require support from the ski racing community and validation from a national development pipeline perspective.

Moving forward, University of Utah’s JJ Johnson will tentatively move into Dodge’s role as chair of the working group, with USCSA representative Jay Moyer taking over for Ron Bonneau as Vice Chair.

As Dodge says of the meeting and the collaborative efforts, “It’s a lot of starts.”

The challenge now is to move those starts towards some solid finishes.